Chapter 16 - Double Tens
"I can't believe you actually rejected Ling Yue's invitation,"
Lu Yuan had just walked out of the teaching building when someone caught up to him.
"How could you be so heartless?"
Cheng Peng looked at Lu Yuan with an expression of disbelief.
Lu Yuan rolled his eyes. "You're the heartless one. I should have let you go instead. Oh right, I almost forgot, your grades are too poor for your answers to be of any value to Ling Yue."
Lu Yuan intentionally made an "extremely regretful" expression, angering Cheng Peng and causing him to yell in protest.
If this had happened a week ago, Cheng Peng would definitely have shouted something like "Let's go settle this at the martial arts school!" But now, he couldn't muster up any bravado and could only resentfully squeeze out, "So full of yourself just because you're handsome now!"
"Yes, being handsome makes me amazing," Lu Yuan casually replied. Then he slowed his steps, stopping in front of the glass wall at the cafeteria entrance.
In the sunlight shining directly on the glass, Lu Yuan's current appearance was reflected. He had grown much taller, from less than 1.75 meters to now 1.78 meters, a good 2 centimeters taller than Cheng Peng. His features were handsome, his build slender and strong. No longer scrawny, his physique had become well-proportioned and athletic. The muscular lines on his arms were distinct yet smooth. His hair was cropped short, giving him the standard sunny and handsome look.
In just over half a month, Lu Yuan's changes were enormous, and not merely superficial.
"Let's go," Lu Yuan called to Cheng Peng and headed into the cafeteria.
"What for?"
"What do you go to the cafeteria for? Of course to eat," Lu Yuan replied.
Five minutes later, Lu Yuan sat down at a cafeteria table with a tray piled full of food. Cheng Peng's tray contained about half as much.
"Every time I eat with you, one word comes to mind," Cheng Peng said strangely.
"What word?"
"Food bucket, of course!" Cheng Peng exclaimed.
Lu Yuan ignored him and focused on wolfing down mouthfuls of food. The cafeteria fare naturally couldn't compare in taste to home cooking, but with the final two morning exams over right before lunchtime, Lu Yuan didn't feel like troubling his mom to cook an extra meal at home. He was fine with just eating at the cafeteria.
While eating, Lu Yuan opened his status panel:
[Name: Lu Yuan]
[Age: 17]
[Strength: 9]
[Agility: 8]
[Vitality: 10]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Profession: Fighter lv3 (345/400)]
[Basic Profession Skills: Beginner Body Tempering lv4 (34/800)
Basic Boxing lv3 (383/400)
Basic Leg Techniques lv3 (319/400)
Basic Footwork lv3 (392/400)
Basic Grappling lv2 (23/200)]
[Attribute Points: 2]
[Skill Points: 2]
In just over half a month, Lu Yuan's [Fighter] Profession had made huge progress. Not only did he break through to lv3, he was only a few dozen experience points away from lv4. The three fundamental combat skills taught at the Yuan Martial Arts School had all reached lv3 and were close to lv4. He had also gained Basic Grappling, learned from Cheng Peng. Unfortunately it wasn't a system skill so the level was only 2 and difficult to raise.
Of the four basic attributes, Strength and Vitality had each increased by 1 point - the former from strength training and natural growth over the past half month, the latter an unexpected increase after Beginner Body Tempering broke through lv4.
With the Fighter and Student classes leveling up, Lu Yuan had not used any of the gained attribute points or skill points yet. But even so, over a week ago he was already easily defeating Cheng Peng, who used to bully him, in sparring practice.
In just under two weeks, he went from being bullied to being the bully. No wonder Cheng Peng kept calling him a "freak" and "monster" now.
The only thing that disappointed Lu Yuan was that the core skill for the Fighter Profession still hadn't unlocked after all this time.
Lu Yuan analyzed that the issue was likely with "stealing" the basic grappling skill from Cheng Peng - the prerequisite skill level was still one level away from meeting the unlock conditions.
Lu Yuan fiercely bit into a chicken leg in his tray. He made up his mind, "Forget waiting. I can't keep copying Cheng Peng and take separate grappling classes. I'll use some skill points tonight to raise Basic Grappling to level 3 and see if the core skill appears then."
Just as he was thinking this, Cheng Peng casually asked him, "Lu Yuan, what ranking are you confident you'll get this exam?"
Lu Yuan considered briefly before replying, "If nothing unexpected happens, top five in the grade for sure."
With the Student Profession at lv4, Lu Yuan had very high mastery of the eight core subjects he focused on. His answer was actually quite modest.
In the Absolute Focus state at level 2, Lu Yuan felt he had a shot at being first in the grade.
"Top five, huh," Cheng Peng didn't contradict him this time, but sighed complexly, "Who could've thought you'd be confident of top five now. Just a few months ago we were both at the bottom of the class."
"That was you, I was never ranked last," Lu Yuan said.
"Damn it! By the way, do you have any study secrets you can share?" Cheng Peng asked.
"The secret is—"
Before Lu Yuan could continue, Cheng Peng suddenly tugged at his arm to get his attention and gestured for him to look in a certain direction. Following Cheng Peng's cue, Lu Yuan saw a few girls walking into the cafeteria hand in hand.
His gaze swept over them and he understood why Cheng Peng wanted him to look - the girl who had asked Lu Yuan for answers outside the exam hall, Ling Yue, was among them.
Ling Yue was the acknowledged beauty of Class 2-3. She had excellent grades and good looks, quite well-known in the school. Boys from other classes often slipped her love letters. Of course Cheng Peng was one of her admirers too. But he only dared ogle her from afar, too shy to even ask to borrow a pen from her without blushing.
"Boring," Lu Yuan commented as he noticed the girls seemed to glance their way too. He looked away casually.
"What if Ling Yue confessed to you, would you accept?" Cheng Peng eyed him.
"Reject," Lu Yuan answered without thinking.
"Tch, showing off again," Cheng Peng said disdainfully.
Lu Yuan didn't bother explaining.
Dating? He barely had enough time for studying and martial arts practice, when would he have time to date? He would only consider it if dating could unlock the [Aquaman] profession and give him more profession panels to grind for attributes and skills.
After the monthly exam, No. 4 High School traditionally had a 3-day break. Including today, it was really only 2 and a half days.
After lunch, Lu Yuan asked Cheng Peng if he wanted to go to the martial arts school. Cheng Peng declined, saying he was meeting friends at the internet cafe to play games that afternoon. Lu Yuan didn't insist.
Ever since Lu Yuan first defeated Cheng Peng in sparring a week ago, the experience gained from matches with him had decreased a lot. Now it was only 1 or 2 points each time, making Lu Yuan lose interest in asking Cheng Peng to spar anymore.
"Is it because I've gotten much stronger that Cheng Peng is now counted as a small monster I can casually one-shot?" Lu Yuan wondered as he walked down the shaded path to the school gates.
"If I add these 2 attribute and skill points first, then fight him again, would I not even get 1 point of experience?"
He considered, "Is it time to find a new experience pot...er, sparring partner? Should I show off my skills in front of Lin Zhiqin and then suggest transferring classes? Or should I just directly participate in the formal disciple examinations?"